The Hurt Locker is the last truly great film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Thinking back, I’m shocked Oscar honored it, but the film had both the critical acclaim and the media story to go all the way. In fact, the critical acclaim cannot be overstated, as it brought great attention to this modest budget, low box office contemporary war film, unrivaled in its portrayal of the Iraq War. For me, it’s the best winner since 2007 and finally brought a great filmmaker her deserved recognition.

Don’t love any of these movies (though all of them besides The Blind Side and maybe Precious are at least decent). This is one year where I can’t really shade the academy for a mediocre line-up since that was a marginal year for movies. Though the inclusion of Star Trek, Bright Star and Where the Wild Things Are would have improved this bunch.

1. The Hurt Locker2. Up 3. Up in the Air4. Inglorious Basterds 5. An Education6. A Serious Man

The Hurt Locker is the last truly great film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Thinking back, I’m shocked Oscar honored it, but the film had both the critical acclaim and the media story to go all the way. In fact, the critical acclaim cannot be overstated, as it brought great attention to this modest budget, low box office contemporary war film, unrivaled in its portrayal of the Iraq War. For me, it’s the best winner since 2007 and finally brought a great filmmaker her deserved recognition.

And the least-seen BP winner, adjusted for inflation in the history of American film. That alone disqualifies it. Avatar was the better film, critics and audiences agreed it was great, and it remains the greatest, most infamous screwjob in Oscar history that led to 10% of the total audience and 13% in the 18-49 demo bypassing the following year’s Oscar telecast, despite Inception and Toy Story 3 in the best picture mix that year. Bigelow only won BD to make up for their snubbing of Sofia Coppola 6 years earlier (Lost in Translation) when that was steamrolled by the Return of the King tsunami (a necessary thing). Its a gender thing.